Unfortunately, many fish shops do not properly label the fishes they sell. Often they are sold with only a common name (e.g., Red Top Zebra, Electric Blue) or even worse, in an unlabeled tank they mysteriously referred to as "Misc African cichlids". Common names are very unreliable and can vary from one supplier to the next. Scientific names (i.e., binomial latin names), on the other hand, are the only names which do not vary from one shop to the next or even between languages.

This resource does not display every cichlid species. Instead, we display 30 of the most common African cichlid genera by showing a few examples of what fishes within each genus look like. This page is a great "starter" for learning to identify your mystery cichlid. The express purpose of this page is to help you learn (crudely, perhaps) to recognize characteristics of the more common genera and be able to differentiate them. Once you feel comfortable guessing the genus of your mystery cichlid, we recommend looking through the Profiles section. Focus only on photos of fish within the genus that looks most like your fish.

Keep in mind that this page is not exhaustive. It is meant to get you started. Use this page as a guide for navigating the Profiles section. With over 1,400 cichlid species and variants represented there, the odds are in your favor of finding a match. If you are unable to find your fish in the Profiles section, you might consider posting a description of your fish along with a photo in the Unidentified Cichlids section of the Discussion Board.

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